December 2019 Feature Release - The Sphere Edition

The start of December sees us kicking off a new undertaking. We'll be nominating a monthly feature release for each clan & are asking you to rate, review & discuss it for no other reason than because we enjoy it. Ben & I will certainly be contributing & we look forward to hearing your thoughts too. 

This month's feature release for The Sphere is the 1994 third album from English industrial metal pioneers Godflesh entitled "Selfless". There's no signs of following the rules here. This is forward-thinking & challenging music from a hugely influential artist. We're interested to hear what you think of it so don't be shy.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=godflesh+selfless

From this release alone, I can already tell Industrial is going to be the toughest metal genre for me to crack. It's not like I dislike this, I just find it boring and grating, which is sort of the point of the genre to begin with. I think I need to keep listening to other Industrial releases and see if I can find my niche in it and what makes the most sense to me. 

After my first listen of Selfless, though, initial impressions are that it was boring, repetitive, and definitely not for me. I'll probably force another one or two listens of this at some point since I do want to try and edge into the Industrial side of metal, but this was rough for me. I may check out Streetcleaner before going back to this one just to get some kind of comparison. 

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one Xephyr. I love industrial metal when it's done well, and for me, early Godflesh and Ministry is where it's at.

I think this might actually be my favourite Godflesh release too, despite Streetcleaner reaching higher highs. I bought Selfless on release back in 1994 and immediately connected with it's crunchy beats, huge bass, cold melodies, and Broadrick's surprisingly vulnerable vocals (which he would go on to use to amazing effect in his Jesu project years later).

Listening to this album again after all these years has inspired me to check out the last few Godflesh albums, which I don't think I've given more than a background listen.

I should probably check out Ministry next, I've heard their name tossed around enough and I've never checked them out. 

Definitely. They’ve got a lot more energy & urgency than the sludgier Godflesh. It sounds like that might appeal to you more.